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64033-01 - Seminar: Corpus-Linguistic Approaches to English Speech Acts (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2022 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Thomas Messerli (thomas.messerli@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | When we think about the actions speakers perform when they are using language in general and English in particular, we probably land first on prototypical performatives like christenings or apologies. By using the right words in the right context, speakers in these cases bring about changes in the world, and these changes are often linked to illocutionary acts that are not encoded on the language surface (the locution), but rest within the potential for situated language use to communicate meaning beyond the concrete shape of the utterance. Speech acts, in other words, are functions of language that can be realized by means of many different forms. Corpus linguistics, on the other hand – understood as the systematic analysis of texts by means of digital tools –, is good at locating forms in their context. Exploring English speech acts in corpora, and more generally doing corpus pragmatics, is therefore first of all a challenging endeavour that requires a good understanding of the typical realizations of functions through IFIDs, illocutionary force indicating devices, and other signs that index functions. This means that corpus-linguistic attempts at gaining insights into speech acts will allow the participants in this course to deepen their knowledge of typical speech acts themselves, to explore other approaches to function of language, and to learn more about corpus-linguistic methodology as well as mixed-method research designs, which are inevitable for corpus pragmatics. We will read and discuss seminal theoretical works and recent empirical studies in this course and will apply the theoretical-methodological toolset we thus build up to different types of data. |
| Learning objectives | By the end of the course, students will have learned about and worked with corpus-linguistic methods and in particular those applied in corpus pragmatics. They will have revisited speech act theory and have explored language functions from different perspectives, which also will have deepened their knowledge of linguistics in general and pragmatics in particular. Students will have applied their knowledge to a range of different data – some of which provided in the course, some of it collected by the participants themselves, and they will have shared their own informed ideas about how English speakers use language to perform speech acts. |
| Bibliography | All obligatory reading for the course will be made available on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This course is open to students of English who have passed all three BA introductory modules (including the proseminar papers) and to MA students of English and MSG Sprache und Kommunikation. |
| Course application | Please register for this course in MOnA. In order to ensure a good learning environment, we aim at no more than 25 students per class (4 classes). The first 25 people on the list have a reserved space, any further people will be considered to be on the waiting list. Please sign up here: https://doodle.com/poll/xfximriuv9heybga?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link **Please only register for a maximum of TWO seminars and only for more than one if you really intend to take the course. ** Should you have not made it into one of the courses and you are only able to register on the list in a position higher than 25, we guarantee that we will take you in the course with the least student numbers. The doodle will open on Monday, January 3, 2022, 10am (CET) and close on Thursday, February 17, 2022, 2pm (CET) in order to finalize student distribution in the week before term starts. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Friday | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 25.02.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | --, -- |
| Friday 04.03.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 11.03.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Fasnachtsferien |
| Friday 18.03.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 25.03.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 01.04.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 08.04.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 15.04.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Ostern |
| Friday 22.04.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 29.04.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 06.05.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 13.05.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 20.05.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 27.05.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Auffahrt |
| Friday 03.06.2022 | 12.15-14.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Modules |
Modul: Advanced English Linguistics (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul: English Linguistics (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Forschungspraxis und Vertiefung (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) Modul: Sprache als Prozess (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | regular and active participation; preparatory reading; oral presentation plus handout; short written task in connection with the presentation (discussion synthesis of around 1’500 words) |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |